The Gathering
by Jay'a and Shiane
Summary: This is PG13 for some language here there and elsewhere. It's based on my (Jay'a) weekend at a hippie music festival. Jay'a drags Shiane and the guys on a camping weekend of no showers and good music. Enjoy!


Youkoso! Welcome to my weird and hopefully funny fic! This is based on my weekend at a hippie music festival. It's one of those things where you just have to accept that a) you're not going to be talking a shower for a while, b) there's a heckuva lotta drugs, and c) there's a heckuva lotta beer. But if you go to the right ones they're good fun. --Jay'a

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ronin Warriors. Sunrise does. (Damn…) However, I do own me. But I don't own Shiane. *waves from her computer to her best bud* Hi!

****

THE GATHERING

Day 1

"Bags?"

"Check."

"Cooler?"

"Check?"

"Big tent?"

"Check."

"Little tent?"

"Check."

"Ponchos?"

"Check."

"Sunscreen?"

"Check. You really think we'll need it?"

"We'll burn to a crisp without it. Me, Ro, and Sage especially."

"Oh. Do we have everything then?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Kento! Get your ass in the van! We're gonna be late!" Ryo checked his watch again. It was 7:30 am.

"Relax Ryo," Jay'a said as she threw the little tent into the van. "You're starting to sound like my brother. And besides," she added, "last time I did this, the people who arrived later actually had and easier time."

"I can't believe you're making me do this," Shiane grumbled as she and Cye came up to the van. She turned to glare at Jay'a. "You, of all people, know I hate camping!"

Ignoring Shiane, Jay'a hypocritically checked her own watch. "Where the hell are Sage, Kento, and Rowen?"

"I'll get 'em," Ryo said running back to the house.

"This is so exciting!" Cye piped up. "I've never been to a music festival before."

"Cye, it's like nothing you've ever done before," Jay'a said. "Ryo, Sage, Kento, and Rowen! Get your butts in the van or we're leaving without you!" In response, all four boys came running out of the house, Kento carrying another cooler.

"Kento was packing _another_ cooler of food," Sage explained testily.

"I don't wanna starve!" Kento whined.

"Fine," Jay'a said, "but you'll have to carry it."

Finally all of them and all their stuff were piled into the van. Jay'a drove with Ryo riding shotgun to navigate. Sage and Shiane took the two middle seats leaving the back for Cye, Kento, and Rowen.

"So how long is it going to take to get there?" Sage asked once they were under way.

"On a normal day? About two hours," Jay'a answered. "Today, that plus we'll sit in traffic for at least and hour and a half. And who knows how long to actually get to our campsite and set up."

"I heard it's going to rain directly over our tent," Shiane said. "I think we should go back."

"Yeah, be prepared to be wet."

"I like rain," Cye offered, trying to be helpful.

Rowen reached across Kento and smacked Cye up side the head. "Shut up. You would."

"Ow!" Cye grabbed Rowen's wrist and an all out war started over top of Kento.

"Ow! Hey guys! Guys stop! Ow, damn it that hurt!" Kento bodily separated the two.

"Hey Shi, it won't be so bad," Ryo said. "From what I hear, you only have to sleep in the tent. There's food vendors and stuff all over everywhere. Plus, there's tons of people so it's not like you're cut off from civilization or anything."

"And it'll be good for you," Sage added.

"Ya know what?" Shiane said angrily facing her boyfriend. "Shut up. Ya know why? 'Cause Mia said that."

"Mia said for Sage to shut up?" Ryo gave Shi a big teasing grin.

"Ryo Sanada, I WILL kill you before the weekend is out."

*****

"Man, how long have we been sitting in the van, GOING NOWHERE?" Kento whined. 

"About ten minutes," Jay'a said. "Get outta the car."

There was a collective, "Huh?"

"Just what I said." Jay'a turned off the ignition and hopped out herself. "Get out of the van."

With a collective shrug, they all climbed out. 

"Hey Shiane! Smile!" _Click._

"Aaack! No. No, you did NOT just take my picture, Jay'a Lynne."

"Oooooohhhhhh, middle name!" The guys all poked Jay'a as more people started to emerge from the long line of cars.

"Who're you? Kim? You don't mind having your picture taken."

"I'm a mess!"

"Trust me, you're going to be more of a mess before the weekend is out." Jay'a flashed an evil grin. 'And I've got thirty-five more pictures left on this roll."

"Hey Shiane!" _Squirt._

"Ahh! _Thhppdd!_ Cye put AWAY the water gun! Who let him bring a water gun? I refuse to let this turn into a weekend of 'Let's all harass Shiane'."

"Oh yeah, like you never harass us," Rowen said. He nodded to some girl walking by. She rolled her eyes.

"Rowen, you are so shot down," Shiane said. "Besides, I always have Jay'a to help me out, so if you're gonna harass me you have to harass her too."

"Hey, don't bring me into this."

"Shut up. You started it by taking my picture."

"Shiane, consider it like we do." Sage put his arm around Jay'a's shoulders. "Jay'a's driving and Jay'a's the only one of us who's done this before. You, on the other hand, are being forced to camp, something we all like to harass you for anyway. Plus, you were the only on who was complaining about having to go."

"Hah! Not true!" Shiane poked Sage in the chest. "If that's how you're goin' about harassing people then you have to harass Rowen too. He complained."

"Huh? No, no, don't think I did."

"I'm up for that," Cye said. "I remember hearing him complain."

"Shut up." _Smack._ "You would."

"Hey, there's cars moving up there," Ryo pointed out.

"Moving! Everyone back in the van!" Everyone hopped in and Jay'a drove -- and then stopped. 

"Well, that was a nice little drive of all of about ten feet," Rowen said.

"Gee, Rowen, do I detect a bit of sarcasm in your voice?" Jay'a turned off the van again.

"Well, I would hope so since I'm laying it on pretty thick. [A/N: Quick, where's the quote from?] Why didn't we move?"

"This is that hour and a half of traffic I mentioned. We're only about two miles from where we're gonna park."

"Oh man!!" everyone groaned.

"So we haveta sit here for _another _ten minutes?!" Kento said.

"Yep. Everyone out!"

*****

"I can't believe it took us two hours to park." Shiane leaned into Sage.

"Um, so where do we camp?" Kento asked.

"Not here." Jay'a opened the trunk. "Take everything out."

"We have to carry it?" Ryo said.

"Unless you can make it float," Jay'a answered. Ryo pouted. "Well, we carry it at least to the quote unquote "bus place". From there we can wait another hour or more in the bus line-

"Another hour!"

"-or carry it another half mile to where we set up."

Shiane smacked herself in the forehead. "I think this should officially be 'Harass Jay'a Weekend.'"

"I dunno Jay, I think I'm beginning to agree with her," Ryo said.

"Oh be quiet. It seems like it sucks now, but when it's over you'll all be like, 'man that was so cool, I can't wait to go again.'"

Jay'a was received with a chorus of "Uh huh, yeah right, sure, whatever." Jay'a shrugged and started giving out orders for people to affix sleeping bags to their backpacks and to carry chairs, coolers, and tents. "Everyone set?" She observed her weighed down troupe. "Le's go!"

They walked and walked passed rows and rows of hundreds of cars. Geez, how many people come to these things?" Rowen asked.

"For big ones like this? Usually in the tens of thousands," Jay'a said. Rowen whistled. A random girl glared at him.

"Okay, I'm beginning to doubt the existence of this camp ground." Shiane hefted up her backpack.

"Relax, we haven't even gotten to the bus place yet."

"Yeah. The bus. There is no frigin' way I am walking with all this shit on my back."

"Fine. Okay, so there's the bus, cart, thing up ahead--"

"Bloody - look at the line!" Cye exclaimed.

"There's no way I'm waiting in that line," Kento declared.

"-- so those of you who want to wait come with me, and those of you who want to fight through the crowd can go… fight through the crowd. We'll meet at the entrance. See ya!" Jay'a, Shiane, Sage, and Rowen all waved as Kento dragged Cye off to the crowd. 

Ryo went with Cye and Kento. He just didn't feel right about the world having to deal with them alone. "Hey guys! Wait up!"

*****

"I can't believe you took the wrong road," Cye said for the umpteenth time. "We shoulda taken the bus."

"Yeah, well, you followed me," Kento retorted. "Besides, we're on the right road now, and they're probably still on line."

"Hey guys, what's that noise?" Ryo asked.

"It sounds like a bus," Cye said. They turned around and sure enough, a bus came rolling up beside them.

"There's no way they could be on it," Kento muttered.

"Hey Kento!" A blonde head came out a window. "Enjoying your walk? Ha ha!"

A blue head came out another window. "Hey Cye! Don't take too long or we'll set up without ya!" Rowen yelled before both heads we're dragged back inside by two female hands. The bus pulled away.

Cye's mouth hung open. "I can't believe they got ahead of us," he mumbled. "I am going to kill Rowen. Kento?"

"Yeah, yeah, Sage is going to die. Where's Ryo? Ry-Ryo? Where are ya?"

Ryo happened to be sitting on the ground laughing at them. 

"What the hell's so damn funny?" Kento demanded.

"Guys, they can't set up without us," Ryo said. "We have both tents!"

There was a slight pause as evil thought began to enter all three minds. "Ohhhhh."

***

"Where the hell are they?" Jay'a shrugged her backpack and sleeping bag onto the ground. "I say, 'meet by the entrance.' We wait for half an hour and they should have been here fifteen minutes ago."

"And here we are dragging all our shit around this big-ass campsite looking for four people and our tents!" Shiane added.

"Maybe they got lost," Sage said. "We are talking about Kento after all--"

"Come off it Sage," Rowen said. "Maybe something happened."

The girls gave them glaring looks. "Shut. Up."

"Hey guys!"

The group turned around in the mass of people looking for their campsites to see Ryo, alone and only carrying a water bottle, walking up with a big sloppy grin. "Great timing!" he said. "I was just coming out to look for you. Come on, camp's this way." Ryo happily babbled on about how great the site was, how close it was to everything and so forth. The other four followed as if in a daze.

"Hey!" Cye and Kento, who were sitting underneath the makeshift canopy between the two tents, raised their water bottles to the newcomers. 

"Well, I'll be jiggered!" Kento said. "We's thought you kids 'ould never make it!"

"Did you get lost?" Cye asked with feigned wide-eyed curiosity.

"Cye, shhhh!" Kento said in a loud deliberate whisper. "We agreed to not talk about getting lost in front of Sage and Rowen, remember?"

"Oh, you're absolutely right. Sorry." Cye and Kento grinned at each other.

"I'm gonna kill, 'em." Sage stepped forward, but Shiane smacked him in the chest, bringing him to a halt. 

"No, you are not going to kill them."

"Oh yeah? Why not?"

"Because I am going to kill them. Right after I kill Ryo for letting them do this, which'll be right after I kill Jay'a for making us do this in the first place."

"Glad she's not mad at us," Rowen muttered.

"And after I kill Cye and Kento," Shiane continued, "I'm going to kill you and you're little friend for egging them on!"

"Shiane, my friend, you haven't been looking. You're missing the best part about this place."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"I can't tell you."

"You know, you're really starting to annoy me." There was a pause. "Why not?"

"Because Sage is here. We'll have to take a little walk."

"Hey, I don't know if I like the sound of that," Sage said.

"I'm interested. If I like it, you might be removed from my people to kill list."

"Trust me, you'll like it. Throw your stuff in the tent and let's go."

Sage quickly put his stuff down too. "Wait, I'm coming with you."

"No you're not. There's a map in the program. Go explore."

"Really?" Rowen thumbed through the program and found the map in the center. "Cool. Who's coming with me?"

In the mass of confusion over who was doing what, Jay'a and Shiane slipped away. They picked their way through the tents to the worn down path that led to the "road". "It's a city of tents," Shiane commented. "So what's this really cool thing that I'm assuming has to do with guys?"

"Indeed it does. Cast your eyes about, and you shall see."

Shiane looked and suddenly stopped. "Oooooh." Her voice quivered. "Very nice."

"Consider this," Jay'a said. "Most of the people here are guys. Most of the guys will spend the weekend hot, sweaty, and topless."

"Ooooohh."

"But wait - it gets better."

"What could possibly be better than that?"

Jay'a let loose a small grin. "Come." The two walked passed a few more campground sections (all named after famous, cool musicians), food and merchandise vendors, and hundreds of people. They came to a stop down the road from a large tent with dozens of people just standing under it. "That," Jay'a said, "is the mist tent."

"What is the mist tent?"

"That is where all those hot, sweaty, topless guys go to get cool and misty."

Shiane's eyes got wide. "I say we move our tent in there." Jay'a laughed.

*****

"Hey Ro, where'd everyone go?" Sage asked as he and Rowen wandered the campgrounds.

Rowen kept his nose in the program. "I dunno."

"I don't see Cye, Kento, or Ryo anywhere"

"I think we lost 'em somewhere back by the food vendors. Check this out!" He shoved the program in Sage's face. "They have a mist tent. That's where these hot girls in bikini tops are going to cool off, I bet."

Sage took the program. "I bet that's where Shi and Jay are too. Let's go."

"Small bongs! Two bucks! Three for five!" someone yelled. "Hey man," he said, stopping Rowen, "check out these bongs. Any color ya want. Two bucks, three for five. You good?"

"Ummm… N-no thanks. I, um - no thank you," Rowen mumbled. 

"That's cool, that's cool. It's all about the vibes man, all about the vibes."

Rowen scurried away back to Sage. "Sage, what's a bong?"

Sage shrugged. "I dunno. Ask Jay'a. She'll know. Come on."

*****

"Hey Kento, is that pizza any good?" Ryo asked. He picked at some more of the grass he was sitting on.

"For three bucks? S'all right, I guess."

The two just sat on the grass under a tree on the concert field. Several minutes later, Cye returned from his expedition to the stage. "This place is awesome!" Cye exclaimed as he sat down next to Kento. He whipped out his program. "Have you guys checked out the band descriptions? There's definitely some I wanna see."

"I don't know what I'll like," Ryo said, "so I think I'll just lie here and listen to it all. But that funk-jam stuff sounds cool."

"Jay'll wanna see the African percussion ensemble," Cye said.

Kento finished his pizza. "I wanna see that too."

"Where do you suppose Ro and Sage got off to?" Ryo wondered.

Kento snorted. "They probably went on a 'search and spy" mission looking for the girls."

"Here come the girls now," Cye said.

"Guys, they have a mist tent!" Shiane said. "I think I'm going to sleep there."

"I think I'm going to sleep under this tree," Ryo told Jay'a.

"When's that percussion ensemble on?" Jay'a asked, peering over Cye's shoulder.

"Not 'til tomorrow. But there's other cool stuff on today."

"Cool." Jay'a pulled a beach towel out of her small bag and laid down next to Ryo. A thought struck her. "Where are Rowen and Sage?"

*****

Rowen and Sage ducked away from yet another vendor. "I think we've been accosted by every vendor on the grounds," Rowen muttered. "And we still haven't found the mist tent."

"They're accosting you, not me," Sage said. "Probably because of your hair. I'm not walking around with you anymore."

"Shut up. Let's just find somebody we know. That guy over there is giving me the 'vendor eye.'"

"Fine. You check the concert field, I'll find the mist tent."

*****

Ryo nudged the dozing girl next to him. "Jay'a, you're burning."

"Huh? Oh crap. Do my back, would'ja? Where's Shiane?"

"Said something about going back to the mist tent," Kento said.

"When?"

"Bout an hour ago."

Jay'a checked her watch; it was 4:20. "Damn. Maybe she really _is_ gonna sleep there."

*****

_I can't believe I'm lost,_ Rowen thought miserably. _This place isn't that big. I shouldn't have given Sage the map._

Suddenly a large clap of thunder sounded over Rowen's head.

"Shit."

*****

"I think we should sleep here," Sage said to Shiane under the mist tent.

"That's what I said! But Jay'a laughed at me." The same clap of thunder sounded. "Or maybe not."

*****

"Come on let's go back to the tent," Jay'a said, starting to pack up.

"Why?" Cye protested. "It's just going to be a little rain."

"Out here, rain means lots of rain, and the music stops."

"Oh. That's a good reason."

Jay'a, Ryo, Cye, and Kento made their way through the hordes of people back to their tent. It was already starting to rain. Sage and Shiane met them outside. 

"Where's Rowen?" Sage asked.

"We thought he was with you," Kento said as he folded up a chair.

"We split up to look for everyone." The rain came harder along with thunder and lightning. "He should've been in the concert field."

"We never saw him," Ryo said.

"Relax. He's smart; he'll find his way back." Cye climbed into the big tent and everyone followed.

They sat in the tent and waited… and waited… and waited. After a good long while of silence, sage spoke up. "Uh, hey guys--"

Jay'a cut him off by throwing a couple of ponchos at Cye. "Here. Go out and look for him."

"What? Why me?" he squeaked.

"Because you were the one who said you _liked_ rain," Shiane said. "Now go, before I drop kick you out."

Grumbling, Cye climbed out of the tent into the pelting rain.

*****

Rowen stood alone on the makeshift road about ready to cry. He was cold, and wet, and feeling rather lost and helpless. _Wait a minute. I _am_ lost and helpless._

"What the bloody hell are you doing, you blue haired doofus?!"

Rowen spun around at the familiar British voice. "Cye!" Thrilled that someone he knew had found him, Rowen wrapped Cye in a giant bear hug. "You found me! I can't believe you found me! I've been wandering for hours, and I didn't see anyone I knew--"

"Shut up, you idiot," Cye growled. "Put this on." He shoved a poncho in Rowen's hands and then snorted at Rowen's soaked appearance. "Not that it'll make any difference. Come on."

Back in the tent, the two soaked and muddy boys sat on the towel Jay'a had waiting for them, along with a towel to dry off with. Rowen, where were you," Jay'a asked.

"He was in the middle of a road not too far from here getting wet," Cye snapped. 

"Hey Ro, we didn't see ya at the concert field. Didja miss us?" Kento asked.

Rowen sheepishly scratched his head. "Um, I never made it to the concert field." At the numerous raised eyebrows he received, Rowen continued. "All these vendors kept pestering me to buy something! I don't even know what it was! Jay'a, what's a bong?"

"Did you buy one?"

Rowen shook his head.

"Good. Don't. Bongs are what all these wacked out hippies smoke all their whatnot in. So don't buy any bongs, don't buy any drugs, and don't buy any beer. 'Cause if you do, and ya get fucked up, _I'm_ gonna be the one that gets in trouble, 'cause I'm gonna get my sorry butt dropped kicked inta last year by our very own Mia Coji. Kapish?"

Everyone nodded. Jay'a could be just as scary as Mia. "Kapish."

"Sweet. End of spiel."

"Is this rain ever going to let up?" Shiane whined after a slight pause. She looked at Cye.

He shrugged. "I don't think so. Not tonight anyway. Should be done by morning."

"So what do we do now?" Sage asked.

"I'd say sleep," Jay'a said. "We've had a long day anyway, and if the rain lets up before, say, midnight, I'll wake everyone to go up to the field." A clap of thunder punctuated her statement as if to say, 'yeah, you think so.'

A bit crowded in the tent meant for five, the seven of them spread out their sleeping bags and quickly dozed off.

_____________________________________________________________

Whew! Definitely longer than I meant for it to be. Don't worry. Days 2 and 3 won't be as long (I hope) and it won't rain every night. Even though that's what happened on my trip. It poured and got all muddy and gross every night, and it was 90 or better in the shade during the day. It was good fun though. But smaller festivals are more fun. Please tell me what you think! Arigatou gozaimasu! Ja ne! --Jay'a


End file.
